Tara (Bodhisattvi)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Green tare
White Tara, painting, tempera on cotton, 20 × 26.5 cm, year 2004 Otgonbayar Ershuu

As Tara ( Sanskrit तारा Tārā ; སྒྲོལ་ མ Tib. After Wylie : sgrol ma ; THDL : Drölma ; transcription of the PRCh : Zhoima ; also: Dölma, Dolma, Drolma ) becomes a feminine, peaceful manifestation of enlightened wisdom in Buddhism and other Indian religions designated.

Tara means “star” in Sanskrit. In Buddhism it is also considered to be an emanation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and arose from one of his tears, which he shed out of compassion for all beings. That is why Tara is considered the essence of compassion.

origin

Tara is originally an Indian star goddess, whose name means star . Tara has its origins in India. It was incorporated into the pantheon of Indian Mahayana Buddhism in the 3rd century ; later, in the 8th century, Tara was also introduced into Tibet with the transmission of Buddhism . She is also referred to as the supreme mother among lay followers and in tantric Buddhism .

Tara bears a resemblance to the Hindu goddess Shakti . Her name also belongs to the "Kali Sahasranama ", the "Thousand Names of Kali ", which worshipers of the goddess regularly recite.

She is represented as a woman with bare breasts, who is supposed to radiate wisdom and goodness sitting on a large lotus flower , symbolized by the position ( mudra ) of her hands.

She is also considered the goddess of asceticism and teacher of wisdom, who leads out of the entanglements of the world of samsara , her 21 manifestations are worshiped in Tibet.

The Pure Land of Tara is called Yulo Kopa (Tib .: after Wylie: g.yu lo bkod pa'i zhing ). Although Tara is sometimes considered to be the emanation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara , she does not reside in Avalokiteshvara's Pure Land of Potala .

Tara legends

According to the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism , Tara was incarnated a long time ago as a princess who worked incessantly for the benefit of sentient beings. When she reached a high level of realization, a mocking monk said that from now on she could consciously incarnate in the (supposedly) more favorable male body, since the body of a woman tends to be a hindrance to attaining enlightenment. The princess then promised to incarnate exclusively as a woman from now on in order to achieve enlightenment in a female body. In Tibet, after achieving her goal, she became known as the liberator Tara and became an inspiration to generations of practitioners of both sexes. With her enlightenment she demonstrated that a female body is equally capable of attaining enlightenment as a male.

The worship of Tara began in northern India in the 6th century and spread from there to Tibet and Java .

The practice of tara is very common in all four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. From this point of view, Tara is a realized Dakini (skywalker, Tib .: Khandroma), she is also considered a feminine manifestation of the compassion of the Buddhas.

The manifestations of Tara combine the functions of protection and inspiration.

21 Taras and Tara emanations

Originally there were five different basic shapes (white, green, blue, red and yellow) with numerous variants; there is also a group of 21 rainbow colored taras. The 21 different forms of Tara show the various aspects of the Taras' compassionate activity. Depending on their aspect, the Taras wear Bodhisattva jewelry as peaceful manifestations or Dharmapala outfits as powerful, protective (angry, terrible) apparitions . The Taras are among the most popular and powerful goddesses of the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon.

The green and white tare are the most popular forms.

The Green Tara embodies the active aspect of compassion and is also called as an emergency helper. The White Tara is primarily associated with the siddhi of long life. In the Indian and Nepalese countries she is also considered to reveal the beauties of the afterlife . The Red Tara is also called Kurukulla and represents Tara's power of love. She is known in the myths for her ability to enchant beings, pacify stubborn opponents and pull them to their side.

According to legend, the green and white tara manifested themselves later in the two wives of the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo , who ruled in the 7th century. The Chinese princess Wen Cheng (white tara) and the Nepalese princess Bhrikuti (green tara) inspired the king for the teachings of the Buddha and were the first to spread the custom of making statues in Tibet. On her long journey from China in 641 AD, Princess Wen Cheng brought the first Buddha statue with her to Tibet, the famous Jowo Shakyamuni , which can be seen today in the Jokhang Monastery in Lhasa .

Most of the 21 manifestations of Tara are peaceful, but some appear angry and terrible, and in these forms Tara defeats Mara and destroys the spirit of evil.

In Indian mythology , Tara in one of her terrible forms is one of the ten Mahavidyas, and in Hindu Tantric texts she appears in forms very similar to the Indian goddess Kali .

Khandro Tsering Chödrön (* 1929), the aunt of Sogyal Rinpoche , is regarded as the charisma of Jetsün Tara , and at the same time as Dakini, as can be seen from a prayer dedicated to her and from her title.

Invocation

The mantra of the Taras is Om Tare Tutare Ture Soha . The mental or vocal recitation of the mantra is intended to awaken the power of the Taras.

literature

  • Stephan Beyer: The Cult of Tārā. Magic and ritual in Tibet . University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1978, ISBN 0-520-03635-2 .
  • Miranda Shaw: Enlightenment Through Ecstasy - Women in Tantric Buddhism . Krüger Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-8105-1878-6 .
  • Sylvia Wetzel : The heart of the lotus - women and freedom . Fischer Spirit, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-596-14254-7 .
  • Martin Wilson: In Praise of Tara: Songs to the Savior . Wisdom Publications, Boston Massachusetts 1996, ISBN 0-86171-109-2 .
  • Lama Thubten Yeshe: The Green Tara - Feminine Wisdom. Basics of Buddhist Tantra . Diamant Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-9805798-2-4 .

Web links

Commons : Tara (Buddhism)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. s. Glossary p. 78 ( Memento of the original dated August 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.robinkornman.com
  2. ^ "Form inseparable from Wisdom: The Experience of Dawa Drolma" from Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth by Tulku Thondup, SHAMBALA, Boston & London, 2005, p. 153, excerpt online ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wisdom-books.com
  3. himalayanart.org: Definition: Tara
  4. lotsawahouse.org: see section Khandro Tsering Chödrön and Pema Tsering Wangmo ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lotsawahouse.org
  5. Prayer for Khandro (accessed on August 15, 2008) ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lotsawahouse.org